1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an video display apparatus, more particularly, to an video display apparatus having an sound level control function according to program genre or speaker of a received broadcast program.
2. Discussion of the Background Art
In general, an video display apparatus is used for displaying video. Typical examples of the video display apparatus are TVs or monitors.
For example, the TV displays broadcast signals from a broadcasting station selected by a televiewer. With advances in multimedia technology, analog TVs have been gradually replaced by digital TVs.
Particularly, the digital TV differs from the analog TV in that it provides many kinds of additional services including home shopping, electronic newspapers, and (stock) trading information. Also, through an effective usage of bandwidth, more broadcasting channels are now available.
The structure of a related art digital TV will now be explained with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a related art digital TV.
As shown in FIG. 1, the related art digital TV includes a tuner 10 for tuning into a broadcast signal; a DeMux 20 for demultiplexing the tuned broadcast signal by the tuner 10, that is, a transport stream which is multiplexed on a frame or time basis into audio, video and supplementary information; an video signal processor 50 for receiving the demultiplexed video signal from the DeMux 20 and processing it to a signal displayable on a display 60; a audio signal processor 30 for receiving the demultiplexed audio signal from the DeMux 20 and processing it to a signal outputable by a speaker 40; a user interface 70 enabling a user to input a request; a controller 80 for outputting a control signal corresponding to the request inputted through the user interface 70; and a memory 90 for storing the supplementary information demultiplexed by the DeMux 20.
The operation of the above-described digital TV is as follows.
A user inputs a power on command and selects a desired channel. Then, the tuner 10 tunes into the channel selected by the user, and the broadcast signal received to the channel is inputted to the DeMux 20 and is demultiplexed into an video signal, a audio signal, and supplementary information signal.
The demultiplexed video signal is inputted to the video signal processor 50 and is processed to be displayable on the display 60, while the demultiplexed audio signal is inputted to the audio signal processor 30 and is processed to be the signal outputable by the speaker 40.
However, the related art digital TV has the following problems.
First, the broadcasting station transmits a certain sound level, and the digital TV outputs sound according to the magnitude the user has set for the sound, irrespective of program genre or speaker of a received broadcast. Therefore, it is impossible for the user to listen to the broadcast at the sound level according to his or her preference.
Second, especially when the user watches a foreign language program and wants to learn more accurate pronunciation of a native speaker of the foreign language, he or she has to increase the audio level (or the sound level) every time the native speaker speaks.
Third, the digital TV outputs every sound regardless of what the user wants. Thus, the user has to put up with the sound he or she does not really want to hear.